San Juan Record Classifieds, Events, Businesses In Monticello, San Juan County, Utah

Nov 21, 2012 | 2898 views | 0 | 8 | |

by Anna Adair

While water intake in Monticello is still down, according to City Public Works Supervisor Nathan Langston, it is keeping up with what is being used currently in the city.

Langston reported to the City Council on November 13 that Loyds Lake is at the lowest level it’s been at since the last drought.

The city water department is working on a proposal to the water conservancy district to get all the commercial and large users set up on secondary water metering next year.

They will present the proposal to the district on December 20 and hope for a refund of the $29,500 city contributes to the district for the next two years to meter the commercial and large users.

Once that phase of the project is complete, they plan to present a second phase for residential metering and will seek $300,000 from them for that portion of the project.

If approved, they will need an additional $200,000 for residential metering and plan to apply to the Community Impact Board for that portion of the funding.

City Manager Kelly Pehrson gave a report on his recent visit to the Community Impact Board. The city presented two applications, one for $86,000 in equipment and one for a community center at $960,000.

The CIB raised the amount of the request to $1,040,000, with half being a 2.5 percent interest loan and told the city to purchase the equipment from the second request.

According to Pehrson, the payment would be around $50,000 a year. The difference in payments between zero percent interest and 2.5 percent interest is approximately $14,000 per year.

Pehrson will bring the item back to the council to decide if they want to take the money before the CIB funding meeting in February. Pehrson is looking for a payment source before he brings the item back to the council.

The council approved the purchase of a vacuum excavator for the public works department for $52,000. The equipment will be used to clean out valve boxes, meter boxes, sewer lines, culverts, and leaves in storm drains among other things.

It also can be used on water leaks to keep the work area workable and eliminate the mud and build up that always comes with a water leak, according to Langston. The purchase will be paid by depreciation funds.

Pehrson reports that the City has money in the depreciation fund with a current balance in the water fund of $251,000 and anticipates another $90,000 in the fund by the end of the budget year.

The Sanitation reserve is around $72,000 and sewer will be $48,000 by the end of the year. The equipment purchase will be split proportionally between the departments.

The council received offers for the purchase of three MET towers owned by the City. Wasatch Wind offered $15,000 for one tower if they are able to get the data for the past two years and $5,000 without the data. The city is unable to secure the data collected for the past two years.

Blue Mountain Power Partners offered $7,500 for all three towers. After talking with Blue Mountain Power Partners, it was decided that they will purchase two towers for $5,000 and the third will be sold to Wasatch Wind for $5,000 for a total of $10,000. According to data cited by Mayor Doug Allen, it will take $7,500 to take down each tower.

The Council voted to authorize the sale of the towers. There is some concern about making sure the towers don’t get abandoned and not taken down. The city will put money in the PTIF fund for capital projects in the future.

In other business, the council learned that the fire department has received a $5,000 training grant from the State Fire Marshall. They appointed Shari Griffin, Melissa Shakespeare and Heidi Pehrson to the Beautification Committee.

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